Buoyancy-regulating apparatus for submarine boats.



No. 772,970. PATENTED OCT. 25,1904. 7

' L. Y. SPEAR. BUOYANCY RBGULATING APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINB BOATS.

- APPLICATION FILED NOV.12, 1903.

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BUOYANOY REGULATING APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINE BOATS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12,1903. .No MODEL.

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No.7'72,9 70. PATENTED OOT.25,1904.-.

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BUOYANGY REGULATINGAPPARATUS FOR SUBMARINE BOATS. 7

APPLICATION FILED NOV.12, 1903.

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PATENTED OUT. 25, 1904.

No. 772,970. L. Y. SPEAR.

BUOYANGY REGULA'TI'NG APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINE BOATS,

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12, 1903.

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.. UNITED STATES Patented October 25, 1904.

= PATENT OFFICE.

LAWRENCE Y. SPEAR, OF GREENPORT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TC ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORA- TIQN OF NEW JERSEY.

BUO YANCY-REG'ULATING APPARATUS FOR SUB MARINE BOATS.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 772,970, dated October 25, 1904. Application filed November 12, 1903. Serial No. 180,811. (No model.)

T0 or whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE Y. SPEAR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Greenvport, in the county of Suffolk and State of New boats as have normally, when navigating be low the surface of the water, a certain amount of reserve or surplus' buoyancy residing, wholly or in part, in the conning-tower or sighting-hood of the boat, which projects above the hull of the latter. A

The object of the invention is to provide means whereby the reserve buoyancy of the boat or vessel may be varied at will, means for visually indicating such buoyancy, and means enabling the operator to efliect the initial regulation of the reserve buoyancy in any state or condition of wind and water and to maintain such reserve despite changes in the specific gravity of the water of flotation.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the invention, it has been found convenient to illustrate separately some of the component parts of the invention installed in the boat, as most conducive to clearness; but all partsthereof cooperate and form a part of the same apparatus.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse section of a submarine boat at line w in Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of same at line 00 in Fig. 1. For convenience of illustration, however, the gage device is shown in Fig. 2 on the side of the conningtower'opposite to that seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of a part of the boat hull,-showing the internal mechanism in elevatlon as seen from the right in Fig. 2. Fig.

4 is a transverse section of'the boat on a larger scale than the principal views and showing the hydrometer-gage, and Fig. 4c is a detail crosssection at :0 Figs. 5,6, and 7 are sectional 1 detail views of the multiple way cock seen in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is in axial section, and

Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively transverse sections at lines a and m in Fig. 5. 7

Referring primarily to Figs.1 and 2, 1 designates the hull or shell of a submarine boat, and 2 the conning-tower thereof. A, B, C, and D are adjusting water-tanks in the boat. For

convenience merely these water-tanks are shown as arranged in two sets of four each and disposed one series at each side of the center line of the boat. If other arrangements permitted, they might, however, be arranged along the center line of the vessel or boat. The number and capacity of these tanks is not limited absolutely; but, generally speaking, their total capacity should be at least double the maximum reserve buoyancy which it is desired to employ, and the-number should be such as to provide a convenient unit of capacity for eachas', for example, one hundred pounds of salt Water for each. As shown in the drawings, the tanks of each set (see Fig.

, 2) are connected in series by water-pipes 3 ,ex

tending from near the bottom of one tank to the top of that next adjacent, and in each pipe 3 is a stop-valve 4that is to say, a pipe 3 connects the bottom of tank A with the top of tank B and apipe 41: connects the bottom of tank B with the top of tank C. The last tank D of the set is connected by a pipe 5 with the sea. A pipe 6 supplies compressed air from a tank (not shown, butfound on all submarine boats) through branches 7 to the tops of the several tanks, the supply of air being controlled by stop valves or cocks 8 in the severalbranches. Each tank will have a ventcock 9, gage-cocks 10, and a drain-cock 11.

Beginning with the tank D, it is possible with theseconnections to fill or empty any number or tanks in the set; For example, if it be desiredtoiill tanks D and'C the valves 4 and cooks 9 of these tanks are opened and the tanks fill from the sea, after which the valves and cooks are closed. If it be desired to empty both of these tanks, the valves 4 pertaining to both tanks are opened and the valve 8 pertaining to the tank opened. The compressed air enters the tank 0 and blows out the water from both tanks in series.

The tanks are herein shown for convenience of illustration as separate or individual, but obviously a single tank properly partitioned would serve the same purpose. Where the tanks are disposed in two sets, one set at each side of the center line of the boat, it will be necessary, in order to preserve the equilibrium of the boat, to fill and empty the corresponding tanks at opposite sides at the same time.

Auxiliary to and forming a part of the means for regulating the reserve buoyancy last described is a means for effecting a fine adjustment between the weight and buoyancy of the boat when these are substantially equal and at the same time confining the means employed to a small and reliable device capable of being manually operated. This device is seen in Figs. 2 and 3 and details thereof in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. It is shown so disposed as to operate in connection with the tank A of the series. E is a special multiple way valve, the characteristic features of which will be hereinafter fully described. A waterpipe 12 connects the bottom of the tank A with the sea through the valve E, and a branch 13 from the main air-pipe 6 leads to the top of the tank A through the valve E. In Figs. 5, 6, and 7 the casing 14 of the valve E has set in it the branches of the water-pipe 12, Fig. 7, and the branches of the air-pipe 13, Fig. 6, and these figures show the plug 15 of the valve provided with a water-chamber 16 and an air-chamber 17. These chambers are separated and distinct, having no communication with each other. In the plug 15 are two air-ports 18, Fig. 6, which may be put into register with the respective branches of the air-pipe 13 by turning the plug, and thus connect the main air-pipe 6 with the tank A through the valve E, and in the plug are also ports 19, Fig. 7 which may be put into register with the respective branches of the water-pipe 12, and thus connect the tank A with the sea for filling or blowing out. There are three water-ports 19 in the plug and two airports 18 therein, and there is an air-port 20 in the valve-casing 14 opening to the interior of the boat. On the packet-stem of the plug is a hand-wheel 21 for rotating the plug.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the plug 15 stands in a position to close all of its ports and cutoff both the air-pipe 13 and water-pipe 12. Now if the plug be turned to the right, as seen in these figures, until the ports in the plug coincide with the respective air and water pipes the tank A will be opened to the sea and to the compressed air and the latter will blow the water out of the tank. If now the plug be turned to the left till the ports are in proper register, the air will be cut off from the compressed-air tank and a way opened for the flow of air from the tank A through the port to the interior of the boat and at the same time the tank A will be opened to the sea for filling by putting two of the three ports 19 into proper register with the branches of the pipe 12.

In order to secure a line control, it is desirable that the ports shall be brought into register slowly and gradually, and this gradual opening of the ways is attained by the circular form of the ports in the plug and easing of the valve.

The utility of the device will be apparent from the above description, it being understood that the operator will have before him a depth-gage to note the extent to which the boat rises and sinks in the water. This combination described may be employed to fill or blow out the adjustment-tanks at any desired rate, as already explained, and also to enable the operator to totally destroy the buoyancy of the vessel or boat, and thus drop the same gradually, when not under way, to any desired depth or to the bottom.

The buoyancy-gage used in connection with devices described above is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, being mounted on the conning-tower 2.

An upright glass gage-tube 22 is connected at its respective upper and lower ends by tubes 23 with the upper and lower ends of a chamber in an expansion vessel 21, exterior to the conning-tower and secured rigidly thereto by preference. In its top the expansion vessel is provided with a small aperture 25 for the escape of air, and at its bottom it is connected by a pipe 26 with the water of flotation at the bottom of the boat or vessel or a good distance below the surface. It is convenient to run the pipe 26 down inside of the vessel, as seen in Fig. 1; but the special arrangement of this pipe is not important to the invention. Adjacent to the glass gage-tube 22 is a plate having marked on it two scales 2? and 28, one graduated for fresh water and the other for normal salt water. These scales read from the top downward and show the displacement of the conning-tower from the top, as the Zero-point, in pounds of water, salt or fresh, as the case may be.

The pipe 26 will be of relatively small diameter and at its lower end it will be preferably connected with the water of flotation at the lowest available point of the boat and in the wake of the center of gravity when the boat is submerged. \Vhen the boat is trimmed down ready for diving, with the waterline at \V, the height of the water in the gage-tube 22, as read on the scale, gives at once the displacement of the emerged portion of the conning-tower, or, in other words, the reserve buoyancy.

The chamber in the expansion-vessel 21: enables the observer to get the true water-level in the gage in rough weather or when the water is disturbed and the sea choppy. This tubeis connected with the chamber in the ves 'sel 24, and the said chamber is connected, through the tube 26, with the undisturbedis due obviously to the fact thatthe gagewater at some distance below the surface. Although there may be rapid fluctuations in the surface-level exterior to and about the conning-tower due to superficial wave formations, the fluctuation within the vessel 24 will be slight and relatively slow, while the gradual sinking of the vessel will be clearly visible and easily noted on the gage.

The means used in connection with the devices already described for determining the salinity of the water of flotation and its relation to the reserve buoyancy is illustrated in Figs. 4: and P. For the sake of clearness other features are omitted from Fig. 4:.

29 is an upright closed cylinder connected at its top with the seaor water of flotation by a pipe30, controlled by a cock 31. The cylinder has drain-cocks 32.

Within the cylinder 29 is a float 33, provided with circumferential vanes 34 to prevent or reduce vertical vibration. This float has an upwardly-extending stem 35, to which is secured a double-pointed indicator 36, one point of which traverses a fixed scale 37, marked on the upright plate or bar 38, and the other point traverses an adjustable scale 39 on the said-bar. i

The hydrometer is designed to operate in the usual way in liquid of specific gravity varying between that of fresh water and ordinary sea-water. Thus in fresh water the float 33 will be at the bottom of the cylinder 29 and in salt water it will. be at the top of the The fiXed scale 37 is graduated to in latter. dicate the difference in displacement of the boat or vessel in salt and fresh water. The adjustable scale 39 has its zero-point at the middle of its length and the scale is at least of sufficient length to read, on either side of zero, a change in displacement equal to the totalcapacity'of the adjusting-tanks, and the uniton the divisions of the scale is the capacity of a single one of said tanks.

The scale 39 may be mounted adjustably in any convenient way. As herein sh-own,the folded graduated plate has in it a slot through which passes a securingscrew 40, which clamps the scale fast when set.

The operation is as follows: When it is desired to submerge the boat or vessel, the valve 31 and the upper drain cock 32 are opened and the cylinder 29 is filled up to the level of the upper cook 32. The fixed scale 37 will now show at a glance the total weight required in the boat in order to produce diving trim. The adjustable scale 39 is now shifted until its zero-mark registers exactly with the point on the indicator 36, and said scale is then clamped fast by the securing-screw 40. The

cylinder 29 is now drained by opening the cooks 32, and at any subsequent time the change in displacement in the boat due to a change in specific gravity of the water of flotation may be ascertaincdby again filling the cylinder 29 with water of flotation and read ing the indication made by the point of the indicator 36 on the adjustable scale 39,which after such reading is again set with its Zero at the point on the indicator and the cylinder 29 again emptied.

As a whole the object of this invention is, first, to enable the operator or person commanding the vessel or boat to make the initial regulation of surplus buoyancy in any state or condition of wind and water, and, sec- I 0nd, to enable him to maintain the initial reserve buoyancy despite changes in the specific gravity of the water of flotation, suclras may .occur in the movement of the boat from place to place and from changes in the wind and currents.

The operation of the device taken as a whole cylinder 29 is filled, as described above, and

the adjustable gage 39 set, also as above described, to the pointer or indicator 36. The boat maynow be submerged and at any desirable time interval hydrometer readings may be taken from the adjustable scale 29, which will give at once the change in weight required in order to maintain the original reserve buoyancy. Such change can then be made with accuracy by filling or blowing out the water from one or more of the adjusting-tanks.

Second, in very rough weather. This supposes a condition of the water of flotation in which the buoyancy-gage cannot well be read with suificient accuracy. In this case such'a number of the adjusting-tanks are filled that 'the total amount of water in them shall be equal to one-half of their total capacity plus carried out at any desired intervals of time,

as above explained. i

In the above description ithas been assumed that the conning-tower is placed atthe center of buoyancyv of the boat when submerged and that the adjusting-tanks are grouped symmetrically about the conning-tower in order that the various operations described may not alter the longitudinal trim of the boat. However, the invention is not limited to this disposition of the parts. For example, the adjusting-tanks may be so located that a capacity thereof at least equal to the maximum reserve buoyancy desired will have its center practically coincident with the center of the conning-tower, while at least an equal number shall be grouped at the same distance on the other side of the center of buoyancy of the boat and double the number shall be grouped at the said center of buoyancy in order that changes in weight made to correct changes in specific gravity of the water of flotation may have no effect on the longitudinal trim of the boat. In such a disposition when the boat is finally submerged with the normal reserve buoyancy the middle group of tanks would be full and the end groups thereof empty.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. A submarine boat having means for regulating and maintaining the reserve or surplus buoyancy of the boat, said means comprising a plurality of connected adjusting-tanks of known capacity, means for filling one or more of said tanks from water of flotation, means for blowing out the water from one or more of said tanks, and gages, actuated by a hydrome-ter, showing the weight required to put the boat in diving trim and the changes in displacement due to differences in the specific gravity of the water of flotation.

2.. Asubmarine boat having means for regulating and maintaining the reserve buoyancy of the boat, said means comprising a plurality of adjusting-tanks of equal and known capacity, means for blowing the water out of any one or more of such tanks, water-pipes connecting the end tank of the series with the water of flotation, and connecting the top of one tank with the bottom of the next adjacent, a buoyancy gage connected with the water at the bottom of the boat and showing the reserve buoyancy when the boat is in diving trim, and a hydrometer showing the displacement in the water of-flotation.

3. A submarine boat having a plurality of adjusting water-tanks disposed in series, pipes a connecting said tanks, a pipe 5 connecting the bottom of the end tank of the series with the water of flotation, means for expelling the water from the tanks, means for determining the displacement of the boat, and means for determining the reserve buoyancy of the boat,

.the said tanks being of equal and known capacity.

4E. A submarine boat,having means for regulating the reserve buoyancy of the boat, comprising a plurality of adjusting water-tanks, and means for filling and emptying said tanks, of a special means for filling and emptying one of said tanks, said means comprising the pipe 12 connecting one of said tanks with the sea, an air-pipe 13 for supplying compressed air to the said tank for blowing the water therefrom, and a multiple-way valve E, controlling simultaneously the flow of both air and water to and from said tank.

5. A submarine boat havingmeans for taking in and blowing out water to regulate its reserve buoyancy, and having also a buoyancygage device comprising an upright, transparent gage-tube 22 inside of its corming-tower, an expansion vessel 2a, exterior to the tower, said vessel having a small aperture in its top, tubes connecting the upper and lower ends of the gage-tube with the said expansion vessel, a pipe connecting the bottom of said vessel with the water of flotation at the bottom of the submarine boat, and scales for fresh and salt water adjacent to the gagwtube, said scales having graduations numbered downward and showing the reserve buoyan ey in the tower.

6. A submarineboat having means for taking in and blowing out water to regulate its reserve buoyancy, and having also a hyd ron1eter-gage device comprising an upright cylinder 29, a cock-controlled pipe connecting said cylinder with the water of flotation, draincocks on said cylinder, a hydrometer-iloat 33 in said cylinder, the upright stem of said float provided with a pointer or indicator 36, a fixed scale 37, over which said indicator plays, said scalebeing graduated to show the displacement of the boat, and an :uljustable scale 39, also traversed by said indicator and having its zero-mark at the middle of its length, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this th day of November, 1902-5, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LAlVRlQNCE Y. SllCAh. lVitnesses:

H. G. TU'rHiLL, F. L. BRAKE. 

